Wednesday, April 30, 2008

I just wrote about this on my other blog. I went ahead and got the carpet and linoleum tested. Turns out the glue in the linoleum is 50% asbestos! We have to take out the linoleum in order to tile in our master bathroom floor. It's not a big area but still it is going to be a big headache.

Our contractor has not step foot in our house since we called him initially to see if he could do the remodeling. It is going on the 4th week I think. My husband and I went ahead and did all the demolition, took out walls and drywall. My husband framed in new walls and now we wait until the contractor comes to put drywall in and texture. My neighbor is an electrician so we are hiring him to do our wiring. I am working on getting the cabinet makers in to measure so they can give us an estimate on bathroom vanities.

Meanwhile my house is a disaster. My college son is coming home for the summer and he has no place to live. My husband and I took over his room and so he will have to move in with his younger brother. Something he said he was not looking forward to.

My toilet finally came in for the small bathroom. I did get the bathroom painted doing the faux method and it turned out really well. Now I have to paint the cabinets in there and my husband has to tile the floor. I have a sneaking suspicion that we may have an asbestos problem with the little bathroom too. I hope not but that is the way things are going.

My advice is to get your house tested (as in flooring and popcorn ceilings) if it was built in the early 80's or before and if you are planning to remodel these areas. Everyone told me that I shouldn't have any problems with asbestos because my house was built in 1978. Well, there never was a total ban on asbestos and products that quit using asbestos still sold off their old stock with asbestos in it during the late 70's and into the eighties. I am glad I trusted my instincts and ignored all the experts.

Friday, April 18, 2008

I was still awake late last night when I heard a pop and then heard water leaking from somewhere . I woke my husband up and he thought it was raining outside. I got up and ran in the direction of the sound and opened the bathroom door. Water was welling up on the floor by the toilet. My husband came running and thought someone plugged the toilet up. Turns out, the tank had a huge crack in it and the water was pouring out from behind. Quickly, we got some small buckets, a mop and some towels to wipe up the mess. We turned the water off. It could have been so much worse. Our pantry, across the hall, where we had bags of flour and other food items on the floor would have been decimated.

Today, we were racing around trying to find a toilet in the right color and not have to wait two months for it to come in. We were planning to remodel the small bathroom anyway after the master bedroom and bath were done. We had bought a new sink but we were going to keep the old toilet as a new toilet was going to take so long and be very expensive because of its rare color. We ended up going with a slightly different color toilet and a different brand since Kohler was able to get it delivered by next week. We also bought a matching sink. Took the other sink back to the American Standard place and got our money back.

I tell you it has been one headache after another. I just sent in samples of our old linoleum and old carpet glue to be tested for asbestos too. Hopefully they will come back negative, otherwise, I am not sure what we are going to do.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

My remodeling is going very slow. Can't get the contractor for another 2 weeks. The bathroom vanity is going to take 2 months. I just found out the french doors I wanted could take 2 weeks to a month to come in depending on whether I want wood or fiberglass. My husband and I decided to start on the demolition part just to get the ball rolling. We also may have asbestos issues to deal with as our house was built around the time it was banned. It is becoming a big headache already.

As far as the colors of the room, I would like to either rag the walls or try something a little different. I was researching faux techniques and came across Murals and Faux Painting Inc. I saw her demonstrations on Youtube.com and have to say they were quite impressive. She had a palette where you could load several glaze colors. She pressed those colors on over a base coat and then went over it with another pad to blend the colors in. The results were beautiful. She also has techniques to achieve the marble, rag, sponge, color wash look and more. I went ahead and ordered the kit and am anxiously waiting for it to arrive so that I can practice some of these methods.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

My daffodils are all about gone but not before I had a chance to paint a few of them. They were one of the first hints of color to emerge in the spring and I am sorry to see them go.

The daffodils were first written about in 6th century AD by Mohammed. They were mainly growing wild for centuries until some Englishmen in the 1600's decided to tame them and bring them into the garden. Their popularity continued to spread and now there are over 20,000 hybrid varieties being grown in the world.

I wish the flowers would last all summer but since they do not, I thought it was fitting to call my latest painting, "Fleeting Daffodils".

Saturday, April 5, 2008

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Qassia is in beta and they are giving away a lot more points than usual. When they go public the points will diminish to a more reasonable amount. The only way to sign up right now is to go through this Quassia's User's Page.

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